Local marketing expert praises "Love, Little Rock" campaign

It's a strategy that's come out of what was considered a hefty task, bringing Amazon's HQ2 to Little Rock.

When it was clear that the city did not fit the requirements, the company needed for its next hometown, the chamber of commerce decided to go a different route.

“Love, Little Rock,” a new slogan designed as a break up with the online giant, Amazon.

The Little Rock Chamber of Commerce is looking to emphasize the perks of the Capital City to try and garner national attention of companies looking to expand to a new city at the same time.

"What a great stroke of marketing I really thought it was great," Lenita Davis, Department Chair for the Marketing and Advertising Department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said.

She says the campaign is not only catchy and creative, but has multiple factors that make people want to find out more.

"It's been positive marketing, you've got the t-shirt, I mean, ‘Love Little Rock,’ I was going, ‘hey I want a shirt,’ Davis said. “So you have all these supporting elements to keep that message going."

The campaign has caught attention outside of Central Arkansas, with stories on the New York Times, ABC news and other media outlets following its announcement.

"We're getting a lot of attention, free attention, and I think that makes the investment worth it," said Davis.

"Seems like a lot more was put in that was shared with us," Ken Richardson, City Director for Ward 2 in Little Rock, said.

Richardson hadn't heard much about the new campaign, but felt the city board should have been made aware of this decision to abandon the bid for Amazon.

"It shows a disconnect within different departments within city hall it doesn't create the sense of confidence or belief that we have the ability to govern our city in a real comprehensive way," Richardson said.

"Even for people who don't like it, we're still talking about it,” said Davis, “and so, love it, hate it, if it strikes a strong emotional chord with people, then it's great."

Now this all started with a full-page ad in the Washington Post this morning, an ad that the post tells Channel 7 usually costs around $80,000.

The Post was bought out by Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, back in October of 2013.